The perspective that laws are not discovered, eternal truths of justice (like gravity), but are human-made tools that reflect and enforce the power structures, values, and social anxieties of the society that creates them. What is "legal" or "a crime" changes dramatically across time and place, proving that the law is a constructed narrative about order, morality, and control, written by the powerful and naturalized through courts and police.
*Example: "In 1850, U.S. law constructed a Black person as three-fifths of a human for political power. In 1920, it constructed women as fully human for voting. Today, it constructs corporations as 'persons' for free speech. The Theory of Constructed Legal Systems shows law isn't divine logic; it's a story a society tells itself about who and what counts, and that story gets rewritten when power shifts."*
by Abzu Land January 31, 2026
Get the Theory of Constructed Legal Systems mug.The umbrella concept that all large-scale human organizations—legal, economic, political, religious—are interlocking sets of constructed rules, roles, and concepts. These systems feel external and coercive ("the system is rigged"), but they are made and maintained by human action and belief. They are the architecture of our shared reality.
Example: "Getting a mortgage involved the constructed system of property law, the constructed system of banking, and the constructed system of credit scores. The Theory of Constructed Systems reveals that my 'dream home' was delivered through a labyrinth of human-made fictions, each depending on the other. The 'real' world is just the most stable and widely agreed-upon layer of construction."
by Abzu Land January 31, 2026
Get the Theory of Constructed Systems mug.